There are many different kinds of ornamental or decorative articles that are currently manufactured and sold with the intent of collection by those to whom the particular article has some kind of sentimental, emotional, historical or nostalgic appeal. Such articles can be collected with a view to creating a charming even beautiful display within one's home. While some of these articles retain only an intrinsic ornamental value, others after the passage of time and especially where the specific article was issued in limited quantity and/or experiences an unexpected demand can undergo an increase in economic value which can become surprisingly large. Thus, there can be a strong financial incentive to protect such articles from breakage or damage in addition to the normal desire to preserve one's possessions and since it is difficult if not impossible to predict in advance which collectible is likely to increase in value over time, this incentive tends to apply generally.
A very popular type of collectible in recent years are miniature hollow structures fashioned to resemble, or even reproduce on a small scale, some structure often well known having an historical or nostalgic significance or otherwise having a sentimental appeal or, alternatively, as a fanciful creation from a designer's imagination. The variety of subjects qualifying for such treatment is virtually unlimited and include castles, churches, lighthouses, cottages, manor houses, taverns, early rowhouses, figures, scenic views, etc., both historical and imaginary. Most of these articles by their very nature include openings or perforations and sometimes areas of reduced thickness and to augment their ornamental or decorative attraction, are illuminated from within their interior so that light streams from the openings or creates a translucence in thin regions.
For such illumination, these miniature structures have a special opening, preferably circular, in a rear, and ordinarily unseen, wall and an illuminating unit, such as a low wattage light bulb and associated socket, is disposed in this opening with a light cord extending to a convenient electrical source. A reasonably secure mounting of the socket within the rear wall opening is obviously desirable. While this objective could surely be achieved in many ways, one popular solution is to attach to opposite sides of the socket, opposed stiffly resilient spring fingers (or "wings") of steel, plastic or the like extending angularly outwardly relative to the socket axis in generally V-shaped fashion away from the bulb end of the socket. The angle of inclination of the fingers relative to their length is sufficient that the transverse separation of the fingers at at least a short distance inwardly from their free ends exceeds the diameter, or some other dimension in case the opening is not circular. The spring fingers are preferably flat but could have other shapes, e. g. rod-like.
Thus, the free ends of the spring fingers are compressed together for insertion in the rear opening and when released are spring-biased by their resiliency outwardly against opposite side edges of that opening. With flat spring fingers and a circular opening as preferred, the planes of the fingers extend chordally of the opening on opposite sides thereof. To insure that the spring fingers are retained in their engaged position, and resist the socket-bulb assembly from becoming dislodged by the spring action of the fingers or otherwise, a positive engagement over and above friction alone between the fingers and opening edges is preferably provided. For example, on opposite sides of the respective spring fingers at a point along their length where their separation is greater than the rear opening dimension, there can be, and preferably are, small indentations, such as short shallow U-shaped notches or the like. When the illuminating assembly is inserted in the rear opening and the spring fingers released, these indentations receive or catch on edge portions of the rear structure wall opening and effectively prevent unintended axial displacement of the fingers from the opening edges until the fingers are again deliberately compressed.
This technique while effective for mounting the light-socket unit within the collectible, has an important drawback. As stated above, the hollow structures are of delicate construction with a wall thickness of only 1/8 in or so and the rear opening edges are quite susceptible to damage from their engagement by the notched spring fingers of the unit. The security of this engagement in anchoring the unit in place is primarily a function of spring finger resiliency; strong resiliency is thus desirable but increases the risk of damage and loss of value. The bulb-socket unit is typically occasionally removed and replaced from an item, as e. g. when a collection of the collectibles is re-arranged for a different visual effect or replaced with a different collection in a seasonal change. The "attack" of the spring fingers on the opening edges can therefore be progressive, chipping away the edges with an increasing possibility of causing a major crack in the structure and diminishing or even destroying its value.